People in prisons continue to face preventable harm due to poor healthcare.
Despite decades of evidence, prison healthcare continues to be outsourced to private companies with a profit-driven model that does not meet people’s needs.
This hits Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people especially hard, because the wider justice system is shaped by racism, Aboriginal people are imprisoned at much higher rates and their needs are often misunderstood and deprioritised.
The result is patchy care, poor continuity between prison staff and community health services, lack of cultural support and inadequate responses to mental health and social and emotional wellbeing.
That is why the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) is campaigning to ‘Transform Care in Custody’. VACCHO is advocating for reform in Victoria’s prisons that will benefit not just Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders but all people in prison.
The campaign is advocating for the following:
- Move responsibility for prison healthcare from the Department of Justice and Community Safety to the Department of Health. This is based on the idea that healthcare should be run by the health system not the justice system.
- All custodial health services to be delivered by a public provider that is accountable to government and community, not profit seeking private corporations accountable to their shareholders.
- Fund an Aboriginal controlled model of healthcare that is holistic, culturally safe, and meets the health and social needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody.
VACCHO CEO, Dr Jill Gallagher AO said placing healthcare in Aboriginal hands for Aboriginal people in custodial settings will help break cycles of harm.
“We know that through holistic, culturally appropriate health and wellbeing care, we can best meet the needs of Aboriginal people in custody and prevent ongoing harm including deaths in custody.
These reforms are supported by numerous coronial inquests and reports including the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the Yoorrook Justice Commission and the Cultural Review of the Adult Custodial Corrections System.
“All of this evidence has highlighted systemic failures in prison healthcare and the urgent need for ACCO-led models (Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations) to promote health and prevent further deaths,” Dr Gallagher explained.
ACCO-led healthcare models deliver stronger accountability, greater trust in healthcare systems, better continuity of care when exiting prison, culturally safe, high quality, trauma-informed healthcare and better health, wellbeing, rehabilitation and reintegration outcomes.
“These three reforms alone can’t resolve all the health and wellbeing people face in prison, but they lay the foundations for culturally safe, dignified custodial healthcare for Mob and others,” Dr Gallagher said.
The campaign is advocating for the following:
- Move responsibility for prison healthcare from the Department of Justice and Community Safety to the Department of Health. This is based on the idea that healthcare should be run by the health system not the justice system.
- All custodial health services to be delivered by a public provider that is accountable to government and community, not profit seeking private corporations accountable to their shareholders.
- Fund an Aboriginal controlled model of healthcare that is holistic, culturally safe, and meets the health and social needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody.
VACCHO CEO, Dr Jill Gallagher AO said placing healthcare in Aboriginal hands for Aboriginal people in custodial settings will help break cycles of harm.
“We know that through holistic, culturally appropriate health and wellbeing care, we can best meet the needs of Aboriginal people in custody and prevent ongoing harm including deaths in custody.
These reforms are supported by numerous coronial inquests and reports including the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the Yoorrook Justice Commission and the Cultural Review of the Adult Custodial Corrections System.
“All of this evidence has highlighted systemic failures in prison healthcare and the urgent need for ACCO-led models (Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations) to promote health and prevent further deaths,” Dr Gallagher explained.
ACCO-led healthcare models deliver stronger accountability, greater trust in healthcare systems, better continuity of care when exiting prison, culturally safe, high quality, trauma-informed healthcare and better health, wellbeing, rehabilitation and reintegration outcomes.
“These three reforms alone can’t resolve all the health and wellbeing people face in prison, but they lay the foundations for culturally safe, dignified custodial healthcare for Mob and others,” Dr Gallagher said.
